Georgetown, Guyana – Thursday, June 7, 2018: The Corporate Management Team of the Guyana Water Incorporated on Wednesday visited the ancient county of Berbice (Region 6) to meet with the Regional staff and discuss improvement plans for the Region. They were joined by New Amsterdam Mayor, Mrs. Winifred Heywood and Rose Hall Mayor, Mr. Vijay Kumar Ramoo.
The team also met with residents of Sheet Anchor, to enlighten them on measures implemented to improve water quality and address matters relating to metering.
Customers of Sheet Anchor are currently being metered, even as works progress for the construction of a Water Treatment Plant in the village. The installation of meters is expected to be completed by the end of June.
Following this exercise, an initial meter reading will be taken to gauge customers’ average consumption, after which a date will be decided upon to begin billing them on metered rates. This is projected to take place by the first week in August, 2018. This is according to Managing Director of GWI, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles, who was at the time addressing residents at the community meeting, which was held at the Fort Ordinance Primary School.
In preparation for the application of metered rates, GWI implemented the use of SeaQuest, which is used to reduce the presence of iron in water, thus allowing for clearer aesthetics.
However, Dr. Van West-Charles lamented the stealing of two tanks of SeaQuest from the pump station. “So this is one of the things that we have to try to work with the community on… and the bad part of it is they threw out a very expensive product, which is the SeaQuest but we can’t allow that to deter us”, Dr. Van West-Charles said.
He added that, “In the meantime I’m sure you would’ve seen some benefits so far with respect to the metering in terms of improvement in the pressure, water going much higher than it went previously and the flow etc.”
In this regard, he called on residents to conserve on their consumption, so as to ensure a better level of service for all. The Managing Director said that GWI has noted a high consumption in certain areas and wants to work with customers to determine the cause behind this “because in those homes where you have very high consumption, if we were to put on the tariff now, you would have a lot of money to pay.”
Head of Field Services, Mr. Sunildatt Barran urged the customers to report their leaks and fix those on their premises within the swiftest possible manner, as they affect the flow and pressure of water to other customers. Additionally, he advised that when purchasing plumbing materials, customers should consider durability rather than cost.
He informed the residents gathered that Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) were installed within the distribution network to ensure a good pressure management technique and data loggers, to monitor continuous flow and pressure parameters.
The customers were advised that a meter is an instrument used to measure water usage, therefore they will be billed for any wastage.
Dr. Van West-Charles appealed to the customers to make their bill payment a priority, as this assists the company in improving its services.
Meanwhile, as it relates to upgrade works in the rest of the Region, the Corporate Management Team was informed by Region 6 Manager, Mr. Jawarahlall Ramjug that new distribution mains were installed at Canefield North to provide new service connections for customers there.
He said works are ongoing for pipe relocation and installation at Glasgow, Edinburg, East Bank Berbice public road to facilitate road construction. Mr. Ramjug added that, “At the same time we’re taking advantage of that project to upgrade the said network by linking the distribution at Edinburg pump station to the New Amsterdam Water Treatment Plant so that we can provide treated water to that area”.
Among the other improvement works in Berbice are: At Lesbeholden North, a distribution network is being installed, which is a project being undertaken though a request by the Regional Administration and to improve water quality, a filter at Number 56 Water Treatment Plant has been upgraded.
During the visit, the Senior Management team, accompanied by the Rose Hall Mayor, stopped at the sites where the new Port Mourant Well is being drilled and the Sheet Anchor Water Treatment Plant is being constructed.
